PE FP&ASeth Sokoloff

Private equity · Financial planning & analysis

FP&A examples for PE-backed companies.

Worked forecasting, acquisition reporting, and performance examples for finance leaders.

Explore the reporting methods behind my work. For CFO and interim FP&A engagement scopes, visit PE-Backed CFO; for my professional record, visit SethSokoloff.com.

Discuss an FP&A mandate See selected work
Experience in portfolio companies backed by

Kelso · ARA · General Atlantic

Selected work

Reporting and planning across operating businesses.

Selected work in acquisitive services and behavioral health.

Galloway · Kelso / ARA

FP&A reporting and demand-based planning

FP&A Consultant · Full-time consulting engagement

Established FP&A reporting and planning capabilities for an acquisitive $100M+ architecture & engineering platform with 50+ profit centers and no prior dedicated FP&A function.

  • Built a Monthly Reporting Package recognized by Kelso as best-in-portfolio and a Value Creation Plan (VCP) KPI package adopted by ARA as a model for other portfolio companies.
  • Lead development of the demand-based 2027 budgeting process, linking backlog, bookings assumptions, and practice-leader input to profit-center revenue forecasts, staffing requirements, and labor costs.
  • Integrated five acquisitions into consolidated reporting and performance tracking, including organic and pro forma P&L views; supported lender diligence and reporting.
  • Developed weekly dollar-based utilization reporting used by leadership to manage utilization and labor margin; directed an external Power BI team to deliver an automated dashboard.
  • Automated recurring monthly sponsor data requests across net revenue, labor hours, employee billing, and operating expenses through self-service Power BI reporting developed with AI; enabled one-click refresh of key VCP metrics.
Read the acquisition reporting case study

ACES · General Atlantic

Planning and cash visibility in behavioral health

FP&A consulting

  • Led key budget components and transitioned the 80-location budget from Excel to Adaptive Planning.
  • Built a 13-week cash forecast projecting receipts by payer and trained the assistant controller to maintain it.
  • Built models and scenario analyses supporting five approved relocations and expansions.
Read the healthcare planning case study

A worked forecast

Change the assumptions. Check the result.

January–September actuals stay fixed. Change the fourth-quarter revenue and margin assumptions, then inspect the EBITDA bridge and monthly data.

Management outlook · FY 2026

Brookfield Services Group

Fictional $209M services platform

Dataset: Brookfield Services Group · brookfield-forecast-2026-v1 · fictional $208.8M Base-case annual revenue.

Period: January–December 2026 · actuals through September; Q4 forecast · USD millions.

Not saved—download a backup before leaving. Edits stay in this tab. JSON backups and scenario links preserve the two Q4 assumptions; there are no editable notes or comparison baselines. CSV exports results. This case is independent of the other finance examples.

FY revenue

$208.80m+$0.45m vs annual plan

FY EBITDA

$33.04m−$0.15m vs annual plan

EBITDA margin

15.8%EBITDA ÷ total revenue

Acquisition revenue

$27.00mIncluded in consolidated results

Monthly revenue

USD millions

PlanActual · Jan–SepForecast · Oct–Dec

Fixed scale · 0–24 USD millionsView exact monthly data ↓

EBITDA bridge

USD millions · full year

Annual plan
$33.19m
Actual Jan–Sep variance
−$0.15m
Q4 organic revenue impact
$0.00m
Q4 organic margin impact
$0.00m
Display rounding
$0.00m
Current full-year outlook
$33.04m

Management discussion

Q4 is at plan. The full-year EBITDA variance comes from results through September. Review those differences before accepting the remaining forecast.

Export results (CSV)
Model definitions and monthly data

Figures are USD millions. Revenue includes organic revenue and acquisition contribution. Jan–Sep actuals stay fixed; sliders change only Q4 organic revenue and gross margin. Organic plan gross margin is 42%; acquisition gross margin is 32%. EBITDA equals gross profit less monthly operating costs. The margin impact is calculated on revised Q4 organic revenue, so the bridge reconciles to the full-year outlook. The display rounding row makes the rounded bridge add to the rounded total. The CSV includes the margin assumptions and monthly costs. This simplified example excludes taxes, interest, working capital, capex, debt, and EBITDA adjustments.

Consolidated revenue and EBITDA · USD millions
MonthPeriodPlan revenueOutlook revenueOutlook EBITDA
JanActual13.5013.281.55
FebActual13.7213.501.66
MarActual13.9514.171.86
AprActual16.8817.102.62
MayActual17.1016.882.49
JunActual17.7717.552.67
JulActual18.2218.222.97
AugActual18.4518.903.28
SepActual18.9019.353.37
OctForecast19.3519.353.31
NovForecast19.8019.803.50
DecForecast20.7020.703.77

Worked revenue bridge

21.5% reported growth.
8% legacy organic growth.

An acquisition can make both figures correct. The difference is the businesses and ownership periods included.

Separate organic growth from acquisition contribution

Cedarstone Services Group · fictional · USD millions

Prior-year reported revenue
200.0
Legacy organic increase
+16.0
Acquisition revenue since closing
+27.0
Current-year reported revenue
243.0

A reconciled example covering closing dates, comparison periods, and pro forma revenue.

Engagement priorities

Agree the deliverables and responsibilities.

Define what the CFO needs delivered, who supplies the operating inputs, and which decisions the interim leader owns. Staffing, hiring, and team responsibilities belong in the agreed scope.

Examples of deliverables to agree at the outset:

Review the proposed FP&A engagement scope
Forecasting & planning
Monthly forecast, assumption log, and actual-to-outlook bridge.

Review: Actuals reconcile to reporting, assumptions have owners, and material changes can be explained.

Performance reporting
Recurring package with metric definitions and variance commentary.

Review: Totals trace to source data, comparison periods are consistent, and follow-up has an owner.

Acquisition reporting
Closing-date schedule, entity mapping, and acquisition contribution bridge.

Review: The bridge reconciles to consolidated results; organic and pro forma definitions are explicit.

Handoff
Reporting calendar, model instructions, and source map.

Review: A named team member can run the next cycle and identify unresolved items.

Finance tools by Seth Sokoloff

Work through the planning questions.

Rolling forecasts

Explore how operating assumptions affect EBITDA, cash, and debt.

Lender reporting

Review cash and debt bridges, reporting preparation, and hypothetical covenant monitoring.

Value creation plans

Connect initiative owners, milestones, and evidence to the financial outlook.

AI workflow cost calculator

Compare software and implementation costs with modeled time value and spending eliminated.

PE Close

Build a month-end close calendar with business-day deadlines, responsible owners, and task status.

EBITDA adjustments

Build a signed bridge from reported EBITDA, document evidence, and separate accepted, disputed, and excluded items.

For sponsors, CFOs & search partners

Discuss what needs to change.

A short message is enough. Include the business, the next deliverable or deadline, the current finance team, and the scope you need covered. For an executive search, include the reporting line, team remit, and location expectations.

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